I need an Aquarium Chiller!

[walmatt23]

Currently, I am growing 16 plants in an aeroflo20 system and my rez temps are getting as high as 75 def F. I bought a chiller yesterday- got a 1/10 hp aqua-chill aquarium chiller, but it didn't cool the water at all! In fact, it was 2 degrees warmer in the rez than ambient. VERY FRUSTRATING! I am about at my wit's end...

Can anyone recommend a chiller that actually works?? LOL I mean, we only have maybe 12 gallons recirculating- so, 1/10 should have been fine (its rated for 55 gallons!!).

I talked to someone from an online aquarium supply store, and they recommended a 1/4 HP Current USA Prime chiller.

Anyway...if anyone uses a chiller, could you please weigh in and let me know what is working for you?

Thanks!!
Matt

 

[wafflehouselove]

are you sure you got your chiller setup correctly? did you check the output water to see if its pushing out cool water?

 

[walmatt23]

Ya, we had everything set up right. When we brought the unit back to the aquarium store, the guy working referred us to their sister store. We called them and they said we needed some sort of controller and that the unit would never bring the water below 75 degrees without it. But thats frickin BS 'cause the unit itself claims to keep a tank with 55 gallons of h2O between 60 to 80 +/- 2 - 4 degrees (both temp and temp differential were able to be set by us on a digital display). We set the temp to 65 deg with a differential of +/- 2.

 

[00420]

theres a ton of threads in this form about chillers....

i use a 1/10 ecoplus with a 12 dolla pump (eco 165 or 185)

it cools 30 gallons just fine.... im sure yours will to it just not set right im sure

 

[ureapwhatusow]

there is a modified chiller on the web. It is modified to be used with a computer, but it works great in res. It is modified to allow a setting of 0% celsius not the 60-80 that fish require

http://www.aquastealth.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=96

 

[walmatt23]

i havent ever set one up, but I connected all the tubing and stuff and had a pump- what could I have not set up?

 

[walmatt23]

theres a ton of threads in this form about chillers....

i use a 1/10 ecoplus with a 12 dolla pump (eco 165 or 185)

it cools 30 gallons just fine.... im sure yours will to it just not set right im sure

I just wanted to know what people were using in their systems right now...i figured there were threads from months and months ago...Thanks for turning me onto the 1/10 ecoplus...it looks way better than the aqua-chill I had.

So, you just opened the box, attached the pump to tubing, connect that tubing to the inlet and then had tubing from your outlet on the chiller back to the rez, right? then just turn on the pump, turn on the chiller, set it and forget it, right?

 

[bongorilla]

I use 1/10 hp prime chiller and it works great for a 40 gal. res..I keep mines at 62f..

petsolutions.com has em for a reasonable price..could probly use 1/15 for a forty...

they do raise heat and humidity a little though..better if outside the grow area in a cool spot...I've ran em with 1000L/per hour pumps w/1/2'' lines...

 

[walmatt23]

I use 1/10 hp prime chiller and it works great for a 40 gal. res..I keep mines at 62f..

petsolutions.com has em for a reasonable price..could probly use 1/15 for a forty...

they do raise heat and humidity a little though..better if outside the grow area in a cool spot...I've ran em with 1000L/per hour pumps w/1/2'' lines...

Hey Bongorilla! thanks for the input..you use this one1/10 hp mini prime in-line chiller right?

 

[bongorilla]

I could'nt get to the link on that but yeah that sounds right..its a prime inline chiller...mine rocks..they got good prices too...

 

[walmatt23]

I could'nt get to the link on that but yeah that sounds right..its a prime inline chiller...mine rocks..they got good prices too...

Oops, my bad- I don't know why that link was bad. it was just supposed to be the prime in-line chiller at pet solutions. Anyway, I found another store: 1/10 prime in-line chiller. Is this the one??

 

[bongorilla]

yep thats it..

 

[JohnnyToke]

So, you just opened the box, attached the pump to tubing, connect that tubing to the inlet and then had tubing from your outlet on the chiller back to the rez, right? then just turn on the pump, turn on the chiller, set it and forget it, right?[/QUOTE]

sounds right to me.

assuming you have it connected correctly (sounds like you do), it sounds like your chiller is not cooling properly. you might have them check the refigerant on it or better yet, just replace it with another one.

I am using a 1/15 Prime chiller on a recirc dwc system and it works as advertised. I keep it set @ 68f and it keeps my system 68f 24/7. It's cooling an 18 gal controller and 4 x 5 gal dwc buckets that recirc 24/7. Probably 26 gallons or so in the system at all times. it will cool down to 60f if I choose too.

regards,
JT

 

[Tony Aroma]

I don't know if this is relevant or helpful, but I know people that make DIY chillers for their aquariums because of the high cost of commercial water chillers. All you do is get a small dorm fridge and pass your water line through it. Use as much tubing as you can, creating lots of coils inside the fridge. The longer it takes the water to get through the fridge (longer tubing coiled up inside and less powerful pump), the colder it gets. That and the fridge's temp setting determine how much cooling you get.

 

[ogenko]

I am using a 1/15 Prime chiller on a recirc dwc system and it works as advertised. I keep it set @ 68f and it keeps my system 68f 24/7. It's cooling an 18 gal controller and 4 x 5 gal dwc buckets that recirc 24/7. Probably 26 gallons or so in the system at all times. it will cool down to 60f if I choose too.

that sounds nice
and the price looks right:
Prime Mini In-line Chillers
1/15 HP (9-1/2" x 12" x 11-1/2") $255.99
1/10 HP (10" x 11" x 14") $335.99

what are your ambient temps?
does it make any noise?
what kind of heat does it put off?

sorry so many questions
i wanna try and get the right one the first time

 

[Budweiser13]

So how are the prime mini chillers for sound are they loud do they make a lot of noise...............

 

[JohnnyToke]

that sounds nice
and the price looks right:
Prime Mini In-line Chillers
1/15 HP (9-1/2" x 12" x 11-1/2") $255.99
1/10 HP (10" x 11" x 14") $335.99

what are your ambient temps? varies from 68f lights off to 84f lights on.
does it make any noise? - none that I hear. all I hear is the recirc fans in my grow space.
what kind of heat does it put off? very little. I have a 4" fan from walmart blowing on it.

sorry so many questions
i wanna try and get the right one the first time

what are your ambient temps? varies from 68f lights off to 84f lights on.
does it make any noise? - none that I hear. all I hear is the recirc fans in my grow space.what kind of heat does it put off? very little. I have a 4" fan from walmart blowing on it.

regards,
JT

 

[petemoss]

walmatt,
I hope you returned that chiller, because it wasn't working right. And you're right that the controller explanation is BS. Another possibility is that your pump is not working. Do you feel cool water coming out?
I had a CL280 from Pacific Coast with a 500 gph mag pump externally mounted with the intake tube over the side of my reservoir. These pumps cannot pull or suck water upward unless you first prime them by pumping some water directly into the intake tube. This clears the air out of the tube and the pump will draw water up. Maybe that's your problem?